Full Blooded Italians

The Full Blooded Italians (or F.B.I.) was a professional wrestling stable and tag-team that wrestled for Extreme Championship Wrestling in the late 1990s and for World Wrestling Entertainment during the mid-2000s.

History

Extreme Championship Wrestling

The original Full Blooded Italians began in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in 1996 as a comedy stable that put African American wrestler J.T. Smith with Italian wrestler "Big" Val Puccio, eventually adding two wrestlers from the Southern United States, Tracy Smothers and Tommy Rich, and one more Italian, Little Guido. Guido being involved in every ECW and/or WWE incarnation of the F.B.I. The running gag of the stable was that most of the wrestlers were obviously not of Italian decent, but they often claimed to be and acted in stereotypical Italian-American ways, including none-too-subtle Mafia references and constant hand gestures.

World Wrestling Entertainment

SmackDown! brand

After a beating at the hands of Rikishi, Little Guido, known as Nunzio at the time, threatened to bring in his "family" to gain revenge. The next week, Chuck Palumbo and Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli joined with Nunzio to reform the Full Blooded Italians and attacked Rikishi. They initially gained little success, but later had brief feuds with a number of notable wrestlers and tag teams, including Los Guerreros (Eddie and Chavo), Chris Benoit, Rhyno, and the Acolytes Protection Agency (Faarooq and Bradshaw). The F.B.I. was also used by Mr. McMahon to attack The Undertaker and by Jamie Noble (Nunzio's kayfabe cousin) to attack Rey Mysterio. When the group turned face, they grew in popularity, but were disbanded just as they were getting over and Palumbo was sent to the WWE's Raw brand. In November 2004, Palumbo, LoGrasso, Marmaluke, and Stamboli were released.

Vito returned on the August 6 2005 episode of Velocity by aiding Nunzio with a blackjack to help him win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship from Paul London. Soon after, a profile of Vito in SmackDown! Magazine "officially" referred to the new twosome as "The F.B.I." and Vito and Nunzio continued to appear in the tag team division of SmackDown! until Nunzio left Vito when he discovered he was a cross-dresser.

ECW brand

The F.B.I. reunited briefly at the 2005 One Night Stand and 2006 One Night Stand pay-per-view events when Little Guido, Tracy Smothers, Tony Mamaluke, Big Guido and J.T. Smith appeared together. The next year, when World Wrestling Entertainment launched the ECW brand, Nunzio (once again using the name Little Guido) left the SmackDown! brand and reformed the F.B.I. with Tony Mamaluke, Big Guido, and new member Trinity. After the 2006 One Night Stand and the first ECW event, Big Guido left the company. Tony Mamaluke was released from his WWE contract on January 18 2007.

Nu-Wrestling Evolution

After their release from WWE Johnny Stamboli and Chuck Palumbo formed a tag team version of the FBI in the Italy-based Nu-Wrestling Evolution, using the gimmick to make themselves top faces in the company.

Incarnations

• First Incarnation
• Promotion: Extreme Championship Wrestling
• Type: Stable
• Active: 1996
• Members: Salvatore Bellomo, "The Big Don" Tommy Rich, "The Main Man" Tracy Smothers, Little Guido Maritato, Davey Piezono, Mabel, "The Italian Stallion" J.T. Smith, Sal E. Graziano, Big Guido, Tony Mamaluke, Ulf Herman, One Man Gang

• Second Incarnation
• Promotion: WWE SmackDown! brand
• Type: Stable
• Active: 2003-2004
• Members: Nunzio, Johnny Stamboli, Chuck Palumbo

• Third Incarnation
• Promotion: WWE SmackDown! brand
• Type: Tag team
• Active: 2005-2006
• Members: Nunzio, Vito

• Fourth Incarnation
• Promotion Nu-Wrestling Evolution
• Type: Tag team
• Active: 2006
• Members: Johnny Stamboli, Chuck Palumbo

• Fifth Incarnation
• Promotion: WWE ECW brand
• Type: Stable
• Active: 2006
• Members: Little Guido, Trinity, Big Guido, Tony Mamaluke

In wrestling

• Signature team moves

*Double Team

*Kiss Of Death (Diving legdrop, backbreaker combination with Palumbo holding the opponent as Stamboli hits the legdrop)

*Paisan Elbow Drop (Double elbow drop with Tracy Smothers and Little Guido joining hands before dropping the elbows)

*Triple Team

*Kiss Of Death (Diving stomp, catching hip toss combination with Nunzio performing the stomp)

• Theme music

*Extreme Championship Wrestling

*Fly Me to the Moon - Frank Sinatra

*That's Amore - Dean Martin

*Stayin' Alive - N-Trance

*an instrumental variation of the Beastie Boys' No Sleep Till Brooklyn - Harry Slash & The Slashtones

*World Wrestling Entertainment

*an instrumental variation of the Beastie Boys' No Sleep Till Brooklyn - Jim Johnston

Championships and Accomplishments

• Extreme Championship Wrestling
• ECW World Tag Team Championship (2 times)
• Little Guido Maritato and Tracy Smothers (1), Little Guido Maritato and Tony Mamaluke(1)
• World Wrestling Entertainment
• WWE Cruiserweight Championship (2 times) - Nunzio

References

External links

• Nunzio's WWE.com Profile
• Chuck Palumbo's WWE.com Profile